Lotte Lehmann: Comparing Recordings

On this page you can hear Lehmann and others of her time, as well as our own time. Sometimes it’s difficult to compare recordings when they use different recording techniques, but with a little experience you’ll be able to listen to more than just the sound. Notice the color of the voice the artists choose. Are they able to tell the story? Do they set the mood? It’s a lot more than just the voice’s basic sound. I’m trying to assemble text/translations at the bottom of the page.

The first comparison is Viorica Ursuleac singing Mein Elemer! from a 1942 Salzburg performance of Arabella by Richard Strauss. Clemens Krauss conducted the Wiener Staatsoper Orchestra. Though Lehmann didn’t sing the world premier, she did sing the first performance in Vienna a few days later. Ursuleac competed with Lehmann for roles and had a good reputation. She may have suffered from not recording well. See what you think. You can find the text and translation at the bottom of the page. Ursuleac 1942Lehmann 1933

Now let’s hear a modern recording of Jessye Norman with Kurt Masur conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig in a 1983 stereo recording of Zueignung by Strauss. This will be followed by Lehmann’s 1930s radio broadcast of the same song. In this era only one microphone was used for both orchestra and singer. Lehmann’s is obviously monaural. See the text/translation below. NormanLehmann

Here’s a chance to hear a contemporary recording by the under-rated Gundula Janowitz with Irwin Gage in Schubert’s Wiegenlied or Cradle Song. Lehmann’s performance is from a radio broadcast. I have included the text/translation below. JanowitzLehmann

One of the most respected sopranos of Lehmann’s era was Elisabeth Rethberg, who, like Lehmann, sang both opera and Lieder. Though these two performances of Wolf’s Wenn du mein Liebster are from the same period of time, Rethberg’s is from an HMV 1934 studio recording with Coenraad V. Bos, piano and Lehmann’s is a live 1938 Town Hall radio broadcast with Paul Ulanowsky, piano. RethbergLehmann

Let’s do Lehmann a service now and hear her in her prime in a 1935 studio recording of Schubert’s Im Abendrot or At Sunset with Ernö Balogh and compare that to her exact contemporary Elisabeth Schumann in a 1927 recording with Karl Alwin, piano. E. SchumannLehmann

One of the amazing outbursts in all of opera is O Sachs, mein Freund! from Wagner’s Die Meistersinger. Let’s hear the electric 1928 recording that Delia Reinhardt made with George Sébastian conducting and compare that with the acoustic 1925 session that Lehmann recorded with Hermann Weigert, the conductor. ReinhardtLehmann

Now let’s compare Lehmann live (1938) and Lehmann in a recording studio (1941). This is Wolf’s Verborgenheit with Paul Ulanowsky. Though the live sound is poor, listen to the spontaneity that results from an audience’s feedback. StudioLive Let’s sample two more recordings of the same song recorded in the same period. First, the highly respected baritone Herbert Janssen with Michael Raucheisen in 1935: Janssen Then you can hear the tenor Karl Erb with Bruno Seidler-Winkler. Erb

Lehmann was justly famous for her interpretation of Schubert’s Erlkönig, which you can hear with her own introductory remarks in a 1941 recording; the pianist is Paul Ulanowsky. It’s fascinating to hear what the bass Alexander Kipnis did with this same song recorded in 1936 with Gerald Moore, piano. KipnisLehmann

The singers sampled above, such as Kipnis, E. Schumann, Janssen and others were able to sing opera and Lieder with equal effectiveness. During Lehmann’s time the baritone Heinrich Schlusnus also succeeded in both fields. Let’s compare the 1933 recording that Schlusnus and Franz Rupp performed of Morgen by R. Strauss. Lehmann’s recording with Ulanowsky is from 1941. SchlusnusLehmann

Lehmann sang mélodie as well as Lieder. In this case we’ll hear Duparc’s La vie antérieure to the words of Baudelaire. This comparison is more difficult because of the vast difference in recording techniques (1949 vs. 1971), two voice types (soprano & baritone), and at two extremes in their lives (Lehmann was 61 and Bernard Kruysen was 38). This is really a chance for you to put on your most sophisticated listening ears. Ulanowsky was Lehmann’s pianist and Noël Lee, Kruysen’s. KruysenLehmann

Lehmann passed on in 1976 while I was in Germany. When I returned to California I visited her companion Frances Holden in Santa Barbara. She allowed me to look through the piles of neglected 78rpm records where, among many other treasures, I discovered a test pressing of Schubert’s Nacht und Träume made in 1947 when Lehmann was already 59 years old. This is a demanding song in many ways: the need for lots of breath control, a feeling for line and phrase, a sustained mood and of course, accurate pitch. When RCA determined to release a new Lehmann CD, I was asked what it should contain. Among other songs I definitely wanted this Nacht und Träume. Hear how Hermann Prey and Elisabeth Schumann have interpreted it too. LehmannHermann PreyElisabeth Schumann

One of the other great singers of the 20th Century was Kirsten Flagstad, who was really a helden-soprano (heroic soprano), whereas Lehmann was a lyric soprano. But they did sing each other’s roles. Let’s hear Du bist der Lenz from Die Walküre from a 1937 recording that Flagstad made with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy. Lehmann’s famous recording of the same opera with Bruno Walter and the Vienna Philharmonic was made in 1935. Flagstad Lehmann

When I asked Lehmann about the rehearsal needed for this historic recording with Melchior, List etc., she replied casually, “Ach, we already knew it.”

If Flagstad deserved her lofty Wagnerian reputation, then Frida Leider was very close to that same pinnacle. Let’s hear Leider sing Wagner’s Schmerzen with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli in 1931. Lehmann recorded the same song in 1929 with the Berlin State Opera Orchestra conducted by Fridor Weissmann. LeiderLehmann (not yet the best sound available).

The intense rivalry between Lehmann and Maria Jeritza in the Vienna Opera went far beyond what we can imagine today. It was such deeply held opinion and conviction by fans of each diva, that the sopranos exited the opera house by separate doors to prevent clashes. And there was no love lost between the two women. Jeritza was beautiful, and obvious in her stage work. Lehmann was plain, and more subtle. They had their admirers: both Puccini and Strauss found elements in each singer to praise and appreciate. You can judge for yourself, from Marietta’s song from Korngold’s Die tote Stadt with Jeritza singing the solo version in 1922 and Lehmann singing the duet (with Richard Tauber) in 1924. In both cases, these were acoustic recordings (no microphone); this accounts for the fact that the “s” sound didn’t record, as well as other troublesome consonants. Note that since all three of these artists knew the young composer personally, they felt completely at ease in altering the words. JeritzaLehmann

My Elemer! – That has such a strange sound…
He “mine” – I “his”. What is this then,
to me it’s just, as when a fear has fallen over me-
and a longing, after what then in all the world?
Longing for Matteo?
Because he always says,
he can’t live without me, and looks at me
with the eyes of a child?
For Matteo there is no feeling in me!
I’d like to see my strange man again!
I’d like to hear his voice! –
Then he’d be like the others for me. –
What does Zdenka say: that we must
wait until one chooses us,
and otherwise we’re lost.

It’s time that she dressed as a girl, the young one [Zdenka],
she has such a wonderful look.
When I am married
she must stay with me.
Will I marry Elemer?
What upsets me so, as though I
stepped on someone’s grave?
Is that the strange man with whom I
haven’t even spoken a word
that pulls at me in the darkness?
Dear God, he is probably a married man
whom I shouldn’t and won’t ever see again!
And today is Mardi Gras and tonight is my ball
– In that I am the queen – and then…

Though Zueignung or Dedication is well known, perhaps too well known, the orchestra version has an attraction.

Yes, you know it, dear soul,
That I suffer far from you,
Love makes the heart sick,
Have thanks.

Once I a freedom reveler,
Held high the amethyst beaker,
And you blessed the drink,
Have thanks.

And you exorcised the evils in it,
Until I, as I had never been before,
Blessed, blessed sank upon your heart,
Have thanks.

Wiegenlied or Cradle Song is so often associated with Brahms, it’s almost as if no other composer set such a song. Of course there are many and this one by Schubert uses the poetry of that famous name: anonymous.

When you, my dearest, ascend to heaven,
I will carry my heart to you in my hand.
So lovingly will you then embrace me,
Then we will lie at the Lord’s feet.
And the Lord God, seeing our love-sorrows,
Will make one heart out of two loving hearts,
He will add two together to make one,
In Paradise, surrounded by heaven’s flames.

Mme. Lehmann called Im Abendrot (At Sunset) her favorite song when I interviewed her for her 85th birthday. Christopher Nupen used the Lehmann recording at the end of his movie on Schubert. Karl Lappe wrote the words.

O how beautiful is your world,
Father, when it shines golden!
When your brightness descends
And paints the dust with lustre,
When the red, which gleams in the clouds,
Sinks in through my quiet window!

How could I complain, how could I be afraid?
How could there be error between You and me?
No, I will carry in my breast
Your Heaven already here.
And this heart, before it breaks,
Shall drink the glow and sip the light.

Die Meistersinger is a long opera with a complicated story. The O Sachs! Mein Freund! section tells its own little story.

O Sachs! My friend! Dear man!
How can I reward you, noble man?
What would I be without your love, without you?
Wouldn’t I have remained always a child
if you had not awoken me?
Through you I have won
what people prize,
through you I learnt
the workings of the spirit;
by you awoken,
only through you did I think
nobly, freely, and boldly;
you made me bloom!
Yes, dear Master, scold me if you will;
but I was on the right path,
for, if I had the choice,
I would choose none but you;
you would have been my husband,
I would have given the prize to none but you.
But now I am chosen
for unknown torment,
and if I am married today,
then I had no choice:
that was necessity, compulsion!
You yourself, my Master, were dismayed.

Verborgenheit (Secrecy or Seclusion) is one of Wolf’s best loved songs. This was written during one of his intense compositional efforts to one poet or another. In this case the poet was Mörike.

It horrifies the father; he swiftly rides on,
He holds the moaning child in his arms,
Reaches the farm with trouble and hardship;
In his arms, the child was dead.

Morgen! (Tomorrow) is one of the most often performed songs of Richard Strauss. Whether because of the words of John Henry Mackay, or the effect of the slow melody with a long introduction, is up to you to decide.

And tomorrow the sun will shine again,
and on the path, I will take,
it will unite us again, we happy ones,
upon this sun-breathing earth…

And to the shore, the wide shore with blue waves,
we will descend quietly and slowly;
we will look mutely into each other’s eyes
and the silence of happiness will settle upon us.

If I may quote Graham Johnson from his French Song Companion, “La vie antérieure…a perfect complicity between composer and poem…we find epic grandeur totally without bombast, and a sense of perfect truth in the response to the poet’s images.” There is much more on this song and many others in his book, that makes for fascinating reading.

Holy night, you sink down;
Dreams, too, drift down
Like your moonlight through space,
Through the quiet hearts of men;
They listen with delight
Calling out when day awakens:
Return, holy night!
Fair dreams, return!

Du bist der Lenz (You are Spring) is one of the few arias in Die Walküre and as such many sopranos sing it, even on recital programs. The story is too long to give even a general idea, so follow the words and they will tell you enough for this aria’s meaning.

You are the Spring for which I longed
in the frosty winter season.
My heart greeted you with holy terror
when your first glance set me on fire.
I had only ever seen strangers;
my surroundings were friendless.
As if I had never known, that was everything that came my way.
But I recognized you plain and clear; when my eyes saw you,
you were mine;
what I hid in my heart, what I am,
bright as day it came to me,
like a resounding echo it fell upon my ear,
when cold, lonely and estranged I first saw my friend.

Here’s what James Leonard has to say about Schmerzen, or Pains. “[In 1848] Wagner fled to Zurich where…he met Otto Wesendonck in 1852…Wesendonck had more to offer than merely his wallet: he had a guest house and a beautiful wife. It was just what Wagner needed. He [Wagner] and his wife moved in in 1856 and he started writing the libretto for…Tristan und Isolde….Wagner began composing what became the Fünf Gedichte von Mathilde Wesendonck in November 1857. The third song he wrote was Schmerzen… A morbidly erotic song that joins love and death in passionate embrace, Wagner sets Mathilde’s poem with highly charged chromatic music that starts with a cry of pain and ends with the bliss of ecstasy…”

How true, a sad song.
The song of true love,
that must die.I know the song.
I heard it often in younger,
in better days.
It has yet another verse–
Do I know it still?

Dark sorrow draws near,
come to me, my true love.
Lean to me your pale face
Death will not separate us.
If you must leave me one day,
believe, there is an afterlife
[literally, a resurrection].

Isolde’s Liebestod (Love-death) from Tristan und Isolde is her closing apostrophe (also the last thing sung in the opera) wherein, kneeling by the fallen body of her dead lover, she, in ecstatic transport, sees him alive, his figure in splendor shining before her.

Softly and gently
how he smiles,
how his eyes
charmingly open
–do you see, friends?
do you not see?
how he shines
ever brighter.
Star-haloed
rising higher
Do you not see?
to drown,
to founder –
unconscious –
utmost rapture!